The week's baseball roundup

MONDAY BASEBALL

Bigfork gets past Ronan

Ronan and Bigfork found themselves in a low-scoring early season battle on Monday, March 18, but the visiting Vikings were the ones who were able to come away with the 4-3 West Division victory.

Carson Parish doubled to bring home the winning run for Bigfork in the top of the eighth. Ronan outhit Bigfork 6-4, as Tristan Fisher pitched a masterful three innings of the game, striking out seven and giving no walks, hits or earned runs.

After Bigfork took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, Ronan’s Coleton Sherman doubled to bring in a run and then scored himself on an error by the Bigfork second baseman to make it 2-2.

In the bottom of the third, Ronan took the lead off another Bigfork error, which is how the score would stay for three more innings.

Bigfork tied the game in the top of the seventh off an error, and then Parish provided the late-game heroics in the eighth inning.

Sherman, DaVonne Curley, Fisher, Hunter Luedtke, Treysin Sinclair, and Damien Hess each had hits for the Chiefs, who were playing their first high school baseball game in school history.

At Ronan

BIGFORK 4, RONAN 3

Bigfork - 020 - 000 - 110 - 4 - 4 - 3

Ronan - 021 - 000 - 00x - 3 - 6 - 3

RONAN PITCHING - Cash Atkinson (3 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout), Tristan Fisher (3 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts), B Mitchell (2 innings, 1 hit, 1 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts)

RONAN HITTING - Tristan Fisher 1-4, Cash Atkinson 0-4, Dante Baltz 0-3, Damien Hess 1-2, Baylan Hess 0-2, Coleton Sherman 1-3, Liam Wills 0-1, DaVonne Curley 1-3, WilJames Courville 0-0, Ben Mitchell III 0-0, Treysin Sinclair 1-3; RBI - Sherman; 2B - Sherman

TUESDAY BASEBALL

Eighth inning lifts Columbia Falls past Polson

Polson led West Division foe Columbia Falls early, but rallies by the Wildkats in the middle innings and an eight-run top of the ninth led to an 18-10 Pirates’ loss on Tuesday, March 19.

Polson led 8-1 after three innings, but the Wildcats added four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to take the 9-8 lead.

“We were pitching our guy for the first four innings and he had them,” Polson Coach Brad Fisher said. “Since it’s early in the season we tried to get in other guys to get mound time, then the momentum shifted and it got late in the game. We tried to scramble to see if we could get back in it but it didn’t turn out that way.”

Polson tied the game up with scores in the sixth and seventh innings, but then the top of the eighth inning came around.

With two outs, Columbia Falls scored eight runs on four hits, four walks, and two Polson errors.

It was Polson’s first loss of the year in what lived up to being a solid divisional matchup between two good baseball teams.

Zak Muzquiz had a triple and drove in three runs for Polson, while Cody Haggard had two hits and two RBI.

Columbia Falls 12 hits while Polson had eight. The game had 24 combined walks with 11 issued by Polson and 13 issued by the Wildkats. Polson also had nine errors in the game.

Cody Schweikert’s three hits led Columbia Falls, while Dominick Young scored three runs in the matchup.

At Polson

COLUMBIA FALLS 18, POLSON 10

C-Falls - 100 - 441 - 008 - (18) - (12) - 4

Polson - 350 - 001 - 100 - (10) - 8 - 9

POLSON PITCHING - Landon Shoemake (4 innings, three hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts), Wyatt Wadsworth (0 innings, 1 hit, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks), G Wyman (1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout), Cole Wadsworth (3 and ⅔ innings pitched, 6 hits, seven runs, 0 earned runs, 4 walks, 1 strikeout), Zak Muzquiz (⅓ innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, three walks)

POLSON HITTING - Cole Wadsworth 1-5, Espn Fisher 1-4, Wyatt Wadsworth 1-5, Hunter Emerson 0-3, Cody Haggard 2-5, Zak Muzquiz 2-3, Holden Emerson 1-2, Landon Shoemake 0-3, Aiden Gfroerer 0-3. RBI - Haggard 3, Muzquiz 2, Holden Emerson, Hunter Emerson, Shoemake, Gfroerer; 3B - Muzquiz, SB - Shoemake 2, W Wadsworth

THURSDAY BASEBALL

Polson’s bats blast Browning

The Pirates had 15 hits and scored 30 runs in a game that only lasted two and a half innings against West Division foe Browning. Polson's pitching held the Indians to one hit in a 30-0 victory to bounce back from a loss to Columbia Falls earlier in the week.

The staggering offensive numbers saw Polson score 19 runs in the first inning and eleven runs in the second inning. Ten different Pirate players had multiple RBI in the game.

“We subbed in our kids and we had suited up our JV kids because they had a young team,” Polson Head Coach Brad Fisher said. “These teams we played that we had those runs, they were learning, but you could also see they had some parts, but again need some time to come together. They just need to keep grinding and don’t get impatient and celebrate their successes.”

Hunter Emerson went 4-for-4 with three RBI for the Pirates, while teammate Landon Shoemake went 3-for-4 with three RBI. Espn Fisher also had two hits and an RBI in the matchup.

DuMont, Wyman, Pablo, Bird, Agliano, Haggard, and Muzquiz also got multiple RBIs.

Haggard pitched one inning against Browning, striking out three on just 13 pitches, while Aiden Gfroerer pitched the last two innings and struck out six.

At Polson

POLSON 30, BROWNING 0

Browning - 000 - 0 - 1 - 5

Polson - (19)(11)x - 30 - 15 - 0

POLSON PITCHING - Cody Haggard (1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts), Aiden Gfroerer (2 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts)

POLSON HITTING - Cole Wadsworth 1-2, Maddox Bird 1-1, Espn Fisher 2-2, Noah Agiliano 0-1, Wyatt Wadsworth 0-1, Brayson DuMont 1-3, George Wyman 1-2, Cody Haggard 1-1, Landon Pablo 0-1, Hunter Emerson 4-4, Zak Muzquiz 0-0, Carson Graham 0-2, Landon Shoemake 3-4, Aiden Gfroerer 1-2; RBI - DuMont 3, Wyman 3, Pablo 3, H Emerson 3, Shoemake 3, Bird 2, Agliano 2, Haggard 2, Muzquiz 2, Fisher 

C-Falls posts big innings against Ronan

A six-run fourth inning proved to be the mercy-rule difference in Columbia Falls' 14-4 victory over Ronan on Thursday, March 21. What had previously been a fairly tight battle turned quickly when the Wildkats posted another big inning, like that against Polson.

Ronan got on the board first, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. Treysin Sinclair drove in a run, as did Coleton Sherman and DaVonne Curley, while Ben Mitchell drew a bases-loaded walk, bringing in a run to put the Chiefs up 4-0.

Columbia Falls, however, added six runs in the bottom of the first and two more in the second. The game sat scoreless for one and a half innings before the Wildcats posted their game-winning rally in the bottom of the fourth.

Columbia Falls finished with 15 hits, while Ronan had seven. Tristan Fisher finished the game 2-for-2 with two doubles for the Chiefs, who fell to 0-2 on the season.

At Columbia Falls

COLUMBIA FALLS 14, RONAN 4

Ronan - 400 - 0 - 4 - 7 - 1

C-Falls - 620 - 6 - 14 - 15 - 0

RONAN PITCHING - Dante Baltz (1 inning pitched, 6 hits, 6 runs, 6 earned runs, 3 walks), Liam Wills (2 and ⅔ innings pitched, 8 hits, 8 runs, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts), DaVonne Curley (0 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts)

RONAN HITTING - Hunter Luedtke 1-3, Tristan Fisher 2-2, Cash Atkinson 0-1, WilJames Courville 0-1, Dante Baltz 0-2, Liam Wills 0-1, Damien Hess 0-2, Treysin Sinclair 1-1, Coleton Sherman 2-2, Ben Mitchell 0-1, DaVonne Curley 1-2; RBI - Sinclair 2, Curley 2, Mitchell 1; 2B - Fisher 2,

SATURDAY BASEBALL

Polson doesn’t cool off against Noxon-Thompson Falls

The Polson offense sailed into battle with guns ablazing as the Pirates scored 20 runs in the first inning and that was pretty much it in a 20-1 nonleague baseball matchup against Noxon-Thompson Falls on Saturday, March 23, at home.

While Noxon-Thompson Falls did score a run, they were no-hit, and Espn Fisher and L Pablo combined to strike out five.

Cole Wadsworth went 3-for-4 with three RBI, while his brother Wyatt was 2-for-3 with a double. Fisher also had two hits and two RBIs in the game, including a double, while Zak Muzquiz drove in four runs and had a double. Cody Haggard also drove in three runs.

In three games last week, Polson scored 60 runs and improved their season record to 4-1.

“I don’t think Browning had a feeder program, and this is Noxon and Thompson Falls’ first time playing,” Fisher said. “We were hoping to get some outside bullpen action and get guys some mound time but it was a little tough in these games that go three innings.”

While this week could be unpredictable weather-wise, Fisher and the Pirates hope to continue to get early season pitching experience in and build the strength of their arms.

“We want to get those guys to step up and throw strikes,” Fisher said. “We can’t be walking guys, we just need to get in strikes and let our defense work it out. We’re pretty confident the guys can hit the ball and put up runs, we just need to get our arms on the mound.”

At Polson

POLSON 20, NOXON-THOMPSON FALLS 1

Noxon - 010 - 1 - 0 - 6

Polson - (20)0x - 20 - 11 - 2

POLSON PITCHING - Espn Fisher (1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) Landon Pablo (2 innings pitched, 0 hits, 1 run, 0 earned run, two walks, two strikeouts)

POLSON HITTING - Cole Wadsworth 3-4, Espn Fisher 2-2, Wyatt Wadsworth 2-3, Brayson DuMont 0-1, Holden Emerson 0-3, Cody Haggard 1-2, Noah Agliano 0-1, George Wyman 0-2, Zak Muzquiz 1-2, Cason Graham 1-1, Landon Shoemake 1-1, Hunter Emerson 0-1, Aiden Gfroerer 0-0, Maddox Bird 0-0; RBI - Muzquiz 4, Wadsworth 3, Haggard 3, Fisher 2, Emerson, Graham 1, 2B - Fisher, Wadsworth, Muzquiz

    Polson's Zak Muzquiz slides to home as a snowstorm begins during last Saturday's game against Noxon-Thompson Falls. (Bob Gunderson photo)
  

    Polson's ESPN Fisher pitches against Browning during last Thursday's 30-0 blowout. (Bob Gunderson photo)
  

    Ronan pitcher Tristan Fisher puts one across the plate during last Monday's season opener against Bigfork. (Susan Lake photo)